Subject: Messageboard Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 17:29:32 +1000 From: Mark Longmuir To: Mark Longmuir Angie: Attention all Veteran Whosers!!! (Or not-so veteran if you know this...) (17-Jun-1999 16:26:12) Nick: Well I was here since Jan of '98, but I think there were a couple of others here before me (like Michelle and Emile) (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 17:07:54) Dean: It depends a bit by what you mean by whosers. This board (or its predecessors) goes back to Oct/Nov 97. Actually if you have a look at Mark's archives page there is some lengthy pieces on the history which were written about Dec 98/Jan 99 so that could be a useful place to look Ang, I think about 15 to 20 people wrote their recollections. Hope that helps, Dean :) (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 17:32:18) Emile: The Whoser History retrospective can be found here: http://members.xoom.com/_XOOM/longmuir/1998/Nov98/f981101b.html. It makes for some fascinating reading :) :) :) (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 17:42:42) DFW: Wow, I sure was long winded with my history... and I never finished it!! (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 23:45:38) Dean: Lots of stuff here! :) (17-Jun-1999 17:47:05) Ta guys, this ROCKS! (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 18:00:33) Angie: Sorry, that was me. (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 18:01:17) Claudia: I've been here almost a year...I think on june 25th it'll be a year!! (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 18:57:00) Molly: Wow, I've been here for about a year now too. I can't believe that time flies. (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 19:22:10) bonpoutine@excite.com: I've been here since last June, what a great place! It's cool to have a place on the huge Internet that still feels like a small community, and to know that there are people who love this show as much as (even more than) I do! (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 22:58:38) Wee Brem: Sorry for not putting my name on that last post... it's just wee Brem (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 22:59:40) I+64 (Claudia): bonpoutine?? How could we not know it were you? =o) (n/t) (18-Jun-1999 00:25:15) Freda: I came here b4 u... that's all I remember. But I came here after Markie :) (n/t) (18-Jun-1999 01:01:05) Rob (in his One Man Show): I remember the original message board. It was 1997. That's all I remember. ;) (n/t) (18-Jun-1999 02:17:13) Matt, in a Swedish accent: Miss me? :) (n/t) (18-Jun-1999 02:39:59) Sam (in a Swedish accent): It's so smelly down here... (n/t) (18-Jun-1999 16:55:00) Jessie (also in a swedish accent): So smelly down dere ... (n/t) (18-Jun-1999 20:46:04) Emile, in Swedish accent: Let me massage you with de rats... (n/t) (18-Jun-1999 22:01:41) Matt, amused at the role play: Absolutely fantastic! :) (n/t) (19-Jun-1999 06:05:52) Monika: February 13, 1999...that day was a milestone in more than one way! :) (n/t) (18-Jun-1999 09:56:35) -- Mark Longmuir - longmuir@labyrinth.net.au Homepage: http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~longmuir/ Whose Line is it Anyway? - http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Lot/8451 "Stop tap dancing, you fool!" --------------------------------------------------------------------- [Image] [Image] Whose Board is it, Anyway? Attention all Veteran Whosers!!! (Or not-so veteran if you know this...) Thursday, 17-Jun-1999 16:26:12 209.103.31.139 writes: Hello Guys and Gals, I have a question for you. I know I am an older whoser, but I haven't been here since the beginning. So this is the challenge. Can you tell me how the whosers started..etc....I am doing something for the con program and I can't tell the whole story. So any help is appreciated. Angie Angie ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Message thread: Angie: Attention all Veteran Whosers!!! (Or not-so veteran if you know this...) (17-Jun-1999 16:26:12) Nick: Well I was here since Jan of '98, but I think there were a couple of others here before me (like Michelle and Emile) (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 17:07:54) Dean: It depends a bit by what you mean by whosers. This board (or its predecessors) goes back to Oct/Nov 97. Actually if you have a look at Mark's archives page there is some lengthy pieces on the history which were written about Dec 98/Jan 99 so that could be a useful place to look Ang, I think about 15 to 20 people wrote their recollections. Hope that helps, Dean :) (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 17:32:18) Emile: The Whoser History retrospective can be found here: http://members.xoom.com/_XOOM/longmuir/1998/Nov98/f981101b.html. It makes for some fascinating reading :) :) :) (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 17:42:42) DFW: Wow, I sure was long winded with my history... and I never finished it!! (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 23:45:38) Dean: Lots of stuff here! :) (17-Jun-1999 17:47:05) Ta guys, this ROCKS! (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 18:00:33) Angie: Sorry, that was me. (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 18:01:17) Claudia: I've been here almost a year...I think on june 25th it'll be a year!! (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 18:57:00) Molly: Wow, I've been here for about a year now too. I can't believe that time flies. (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 19:22:10) bonpoutine@excite.com: I've been here since last June, what a great place! It's cool to have a place on the huge Internet that still feels like a small community, and to know that there are people who love this show as much as (even more than) I do! (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 22:58:38) Wee Brem: Sorry for not putting my name on that last post... it's just wee Brem (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 22:59:40) I+64 (Claudia): bonpoutine?? How could we not know it were you? =o) (n/t) (18-Jun-1999 00:25:15) Freda: I came here b4 u... that's all I remember. But I came here after Markie :) (n/t) (18-Jun-1999 01:01:05) Rob (in his One Man Show): I remember the original message board. It was 1997. That's all I remember. ;) (n/t) (18-Jun-1999 02:17:13) Matt, in a Swedish accent: Miss me? :) (n/t) (18-Jun-1999 02:39:59) Sam (in a Swedish accent): It's so smelly down here... (n/t) (18-Jun-1999 16:55:00) Jessie (also in a swedish accent): So smelly down dere ... (n/t) (18-Jun-1999 20:46:04) Emile, in Swedish accent: Let me massage you with de rats... (n/t) (18-Jun-1999 22:01:41) Matt, amused at the role play: Absolutely fantastic! :) (n/t) (19-Jun-1999 06:05:52) Monika: February 13, 1999...that day was a milestone in more than one way! :) (n/t) (18-Jun-1999 09:56:35) Back to main board ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Prev Page Next Page Now viewing page 4 of 4 (17-Jun-1999 16:26:12 to 16-Jun-1999 14:08:54) [Image] Message subject: Name: (optional) Email address: (optional) Type your message here: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Back to main board ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright © ITW Newcorp, Inc. 1997-1999 All rights reserved. [Image] [Image] Whose Board is it, Anyway? Lots of stuff here! :) Thursday, 17-Jun-1999 17:47:05 216.100.151.19 writes: After leaving the above message I thought I'd just copy the stuff from Mark's archive her as it was such a pleasant thread! Julie: What WL FAQ page would be complete without a section on the Whosers? So now I have a question: How did the Whosers get started? Was there a specific person (or group of people) who founded us, or did we just sort of spring up? Is there any Whoser history out there? (Okay, amybe that was more than one question.) Any answers would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! Sharilyn: I remember there being some discussion about what to call ourselves (and something vaguely about not wanting to be too close to what Dr. Who fans call themselves, whatever that is). I wasn't involved in that debate, but maybe those who were could contribute what some of the considered names were, and when this took place - my guesstimate would be last April/May, but I can't really say for sure. Molly: I'm sort of new at being a "Whoser". I discovered this MB a few months back while I was recovering from my accident, and I've been addicted ever since. I've been a fan of WLiiA? for about 4 years now. Michelle: From my point of view.. I got to the board the first week of December, 1997 and some of us started getting together in #wliia at the new year (namely Vanessa, Freda, Natalie, Emile and myself ) Nick: During my Christmas vacation of '97, I was back home, visiting the parents, surfin' on a PC at my Dad's tavern, and happened upon Mark's page, and a reference to #wliia. When I returned to Ottawa in Jan, I tried out the different #wliia channels (there were 3, one on EFNet, DALnet and AUnet). First person I met was our beloved Michelle. Donna (DFW) joined not long after I did, and I eventually met up with the other 'oldtimers', Nat, Emile, Tash and Vanessa. And my life hasn't been the same since... Ok, Donna's posts (i.e. ramblings ) brought it all back to me, and got me thinking... I used to chat in IRC a couple of years ago. It was ok, I hung around a couple of video game channels, or Windows95 channels (geek!), but it got boring. I never really stuck around to learn who anyone was, and people were more concerned with bots and channel takeovers and other things like that (I even got banned once because one of the ops thought I had tried to steal ops during a server split -- and I didn't even know what that meant at the time). Anyway... along comes #wliia. Like I said, I first met Shell, though she was on as Slattery (so I didn't even know I was talking to a girl at first -- bonus ). Then I met others, including Nat, Donna, Emile, Tashia, etc. I was liking the male/female ratio . Of course, not only did I have to keep everyone straight, but also their nicknames (i.e. Shell/Moosh/Slattery, Emile/Mochrie, Tashia/Merts, DFW/Rstiles... you get the picture). Natalie even came up with a page listing everyone's real names, regular nicknames, and game-playing nicknames. I had my own .txt file on the go, it was hard to remember everyone. Now, something struck me as being very odd, and very refreshing about our channel. First off, everyone *knew* each other's names, and in some cases what they looked like (hey, want my pic??). I had never seen an IRC channel like that before, and still think it's rare, and very nice. Second, there was no bickering for channel control -- everyone gets ops once they're a regular. The friendliness of the channel got me hooked. I was on every night until 1 or 2am (and had bags under my eyes for work the next day). I've got that under control now, thank goodness. Of course, there were other people who joined us after the early group, like Dean, Lisa, Ash, Jessie (oldtimers themselves), and too many others to mention, who make chat such a pleasant experience. And we have new people joining all the time. So, anyway, now that I'm rambling, I think I'll just say a heartfelt thank you to all the great people I've met, and spent many great evenings with, and I look forward to actually meeting a number of you at the next con. Donna: Ok, any of you old people feel free to correct me. My memory may be faulty. I found this board some time in late November 1997 from a link on Mark Longmuir's page...so my presence here is all Mark's fault, blame him. It was still fairly new (I think someone told me it started in October. Can anyone confirm that?). Alison, a Canadian, started this board but she is also a big fan of some other things and maintains other websites. She is not here much anymore (ever?). There were only a few messages on the board at the time. I read it for a few days, then forgot to check it again until some time in late December, when I became a regular lurker with the occasional anonymous comment. :-) In the beginning, most of the regulars were Canadians, I think because The Comedy Nertwork there had recently started showing WL regularly or the cable company was giving people TCN for free so a lot of people beacame fans or something. Ask the Canadian oldtimers. The board is still overrun by Canadians, not that that's a bad thing. :-) The first posting from Colin I have is January 23, 1998. I'm not sure how he found us. He visited Mark's page (check out Mark's old guestbook entries) so maybe he followed the link. Some of us acquired his e-mail address at that point, so perhaps someone pestered him to visit us...it wasn't me. :-) He answered some questions about the upcoming American version of WL and was generally gracious to us (as he continues to be). He continued to post off and on, especially when someone put his name in big letters in the subject line of their post. He still posts/lurks sometimes. My opinion is he is keeping an eye on us to make sure we haven't turned into psycho stalkers (kidding!). Well, it's late so I have to continue this later. We haven't even gotten to the convention or the first tapings. So much had happend to us in the past year! I can't even believe I've been around you nuts this long. ;-) Ok, ok, I've loved every minute of it. More later...... Donna: Ok, where was I? This is sort of a personal Whoser history as much a group history. Hmmmm...back in the old days we used to introduce ourselves constantly--first name, location, musical preferences, favorite contestants and scenes, etc-- so we got to know each other a little. It turns out many of us are very creative in one way or another, musicians, artists, writers. I finally stopped lurking and began to contribute a little to the board. I requested my first tapes from the Tape Copying Saint in January so I became even more addicted to the show. I also figured out how to chat in #wliia in late January. My fisrt night on the channel I met Nat, Shell, and Nick. I think I just missed Emile. To make me feel right at home (a little sarcasm there), they decided to intiate me within 15 minutes of my arrival. It seems Natalie just adores initiations. I was a little nervous. Anyhoo (that's for Ash), the 3 of them came up with my claim to fame....I had just given birth to Clive's love child. Sound familiar? The Whosers have such great game ideas. Dan Patterson agrees. I remember being asked questions like, "Was it a labour of love?" (bless you, Shell, even if Nat did scold you for the leading question) and something about needing sunglasses. I did figure it out eventually. For months we initiated all the newbies with a rousing game of press conference. It was a lot fun. We rarely do it anymore and I miss it. :-) The IRC chat group was fairly small for months. I met Mark, Ashley, lisa, Dean, and many others. We played WL-type games constantly, starting with the verbal games like alphabet and questions only. Eventually we got more adventurous and tried Superheroes and others, including the "singing" games though I guess you would have to call them rhyming games. The games have slowed down a bit and now we talk many things, some WL-related and some some not. And I like that, too. Ok, when did this turn into a history of #wliia? It is a significant part of the Whoser group because many of us "met" that way and we still use it to help plan trips and obsess about the show. There are plenty of genuine Whosers that never chat. IRC is only one of many ways that the group members communicate. Now we've got 2 or 3 message boards, a newsgroup, a webring, AIM buddy lists, and ICQ numbers. Quite a change from the early days. Anyway, sometime in January or February of 1998, a regular poster, "Christina" (aka Adria) decided she was insane enough to offer her house for a informal WL party. The date was set for the first weekend in March and things started to take shape. Colin actually agreed to perform that weekend at Second City with his friend Paul O'Sullivan (Have I ever told you how much I love Colin?)! The little informal get-together was rapidly turning into a full-fledged little convention, complete with T-shirts and programs. Soon I was sitting on a plane bound for Canada wondering when I became insane enough to fly to another country to meet total strangers! I felt a bit shy and awkward initially but we all seemed to click fairly quickly. No one was allowed to remain shy for long. You were dragged right into the middle of things before you had time to feel self-conscious. The first night we had a big party with lots of good food...and Twiglets. We played lots of WL games, signing up for the games we wanted to play and choosing suggestion that we had written out earlier in the day. I was really, truly horrible, but I had a blast anyway. Another major part of that weekend was the video marathons of the newer series of WLiiA? and a few other WL-related shows. I left people watching the vidoes when I went upstairs to bed at 4 am. Five hours later, I came back down stairs to find people (still?) watching videos. I think by the end of the convention we were all sleep- and food-deprived. One of my favorite things about the people I met was being able to throw out a bizarre but appropriate line from the show and having someone actually understand! We could sing the songs and quote parts (or all) of the games. I remember the whole room breaking into spontaneous applause when Mr. Mochrie pulled a Colin on the video. But the most perfect part of all was the night Colin and Paul performed in the little 100-seat or so theater about the main room at Second City. I constantly had this huge grin on my face...when I wasn't doubled over with laughter. I can still picture the moment the lights came up and Colin was standing 10 feet from me! I also clearly remember when he walked into Wayne Gretzsky's and when he left, looking back and waving two hours later! After dong the famous dinosaur! That whole experience is another long story. I hope someone saved the post-convention board messages for the archives. If not, I printed them out and will retype them if I have to!!! Our message board had always been a friendly, cozy little place. It's set the tone for everything else we've done. Everyone is accepted as part of the group, everyone can say what they think. (OK, so we occasionally fail to live up to these ideals, but nobody is perfect). The convention was just another step in bringing the Whoser family closer together. But you know what? I still haven't gotten to the point where the "Whoser" name began to stick (for better or worse, huh lisa?). I guess there will have to be a part 3. Until tomorrow..... P.S. Please feel free to add and correct! This stuff happened months ago! Donna: So, after that wonderful, exciting convention, we all went home and bounced around for days. The board was full of gushing posts and the poor people who were unable to go to the convention were mightily annoyed. Now I'm going to skip around a lot because for some strange reason I remember the older stuff a lot more clearly than the more recent events. Some of the group brought up the idea of becoming an official fan club. We still aren't an official fan club but there is no doubt that we are becoming a well-known UNofficial fan club. Anyway, we needed a name. There were some suggestions thrown around on the board. I've been talking to some of my fellow oldtimers and no one remembers exactly who suggested Whosers. Anyone want to claim it? We think it might have been Mark. Some people like the suggestion and some didn't. However, we found out that the British WLiiA? was going to be taping in LA in May. I knew I was going to find some way to be there. I just had to. It was some uncontrollable compulsion (ok, don't get scared. I'm exaggerating...but not much). Adria and a few others contacted Audiences Unlimited, who distributed the tickets for the tapings. It was better to get tickests as a group so Adria put us on the list as Whosers. It was the first time we officially called ourselves Whosers.For better or worse, the name stuck. OK, my roomie is taking me out for a free meal to celebrate my new job, so I must tear myself away from this. I promise I will finally finish this tonight. Or maybe this weekend. Or maybe next year. :-) Mark: Okay, well I put my page up around early last year (probably March/April, since I got into the show in late February and first got a uni internet account in March). IIRC, there wasn't much around about the show then... of the main ones, Susan G's page was the best but not regularly updated, Steve Marotta's pictures and sounds were there and the sounds updated occasionally, and Troy's was down I think... it reappeared mid-last year or so. I eventually found Teresa's pictures and sounds (not sure how long it had been there before I found it!)... there was also a message board there. Unfortunately shortly after I found it, a 'server error' or something prevented any new posts to that board so discussion there kind of disappeared... I think there's still a link to it from my page so that may help figuring out when this all happened... I got into this board late last year - trying to figure out when... probably November or so. I remember reading it from uni in December (did it have a yellow background for a while or am I confusing it with something else?) so I'd found it by then... possibly still using the link on my page so I hadn't been using it long enough to memorise the address! IRC chat took off either late last year or early this year - I got into it around Jan/Feb this year which was a little while after it had started. Aha... thanks for reminding me of the guestbook! A lot of the old posts in the archive have reminded me of some things... - Colin's post is dated 21st November 1997, so that must be around when we first started bugging him :) Shortly after that I asked him to write the mini-auto-bio for the cast page and a lot of other people asked about tapings and so on (this was long before the '98 series had been planned!) - Richard Vranch signed it on 15th January '98. - The first post (mine) is dated 27th October 1997 - doesn't help much because I had the page for ages before the guestbook! - Alison signed on the 10th December 1997 and left the address of the message board - which is actually a different message board ... we had some trouble early this year(?) with someone posting HTML to the board and wrecking it! We eventually figured out a way to fix it, but by that time had decided to relocate the board to here. I think the convention and chat boards came a while after the trouble. Mark: Ah, #wliia is so friendly :) My 'mates' bag me about it sometimes... but when they join a channel the entire conversation is: "[Bob] logs on. [Dave] logs off. [Pete] logs on. [Bob] logs off..." you get the idea. At least we all talk :) Brooke: The Comedy Network only started broadcasting in late September/October of 1997, and was free to all Canucks for the first few months of airtime. That was to get us hooked. (Then, just like dealers, they demanded money to keep our supply going.) That's why there was a surge of Canadians at that time :) Jessie: Only other thing I could think of was to get individual reactions to Colin being on that stage ... I seem to remember someone's nails embedded in my hand when he appeared ;) Tashia: And the group gasp when they were announced they were doing backwards scene, lol!! Jessie: With the corresponding first of those famous types of looks Colin gives us :) Claudia: I am one of the newer Whosers...I think I joined about 3, 4 months? Well, Anyways, I think I discovered Mark's page in about April I think, and the Chat still read Talkcity, so I just sat there in that room waiting for someone to come, which after reading this sounds pretty darn pathetic. After I saw that it made a change to WorldNet, I immediatly went, and I remember the first person I talked to was Cindy. Anyways, that's my version of my story of becoming a Whoser =o) Tashia: Reading all this history reminded me that in January I will mark my first anniversary as offical Whoser tape copier... I can't believe I've been doing this for nearly a year, almost nonstop! lol - but I don't mind, I love spreading the wealth, so to speak. :)) Dean: I thought Id write something of my recollections. I first found the board in mid November (I have an idea it was around Nov 20 or so...) The day I found it, it was already very busy (the posts were held 10 days rather than the current 5). My memory is that at THAT time most of the posts were about UK performers. About a third were stuff about John Sessions: "John Sessions sucks", stuff like that. But there was also stuff about Tony and Josie. That first day there was a post about Josie: essentially it said she was awful because she showed lesbian tendencies! That made me mad, and I stewed about it for a few days, composing a reply in my mind... I eventually posted a reply... anonymously.... but by that time the thread was near the bottom of the page, and I doubt many saw it... I was checking back every couple of hours to see if anyone replied... no-one did! Eventually I got brave enough to sign my name, and then to leave my email address (remember I only got online in September so that was a big step!) The first person to email me was Rob... the second was Tashia and Michelle about getting copies of new shows... as my first Whoser buddies to have "direct" contact with me, Rob, Tashia and Michelle will always be special to me! :) the MB was a more lively place then, we debated every aspect of the show. I sometimes initiated them, and I got a reputation as a bit of a stirrer: In retrospect I was too serious but remember... I was still learning about the Internet. Once after watching a Sound Effects which was too good, I left a post headed "Whose Line is a Fraud!" and suggested Colin and Ryan must have rehearsed the scene. Well, sparks flew! people were very upset! I stuck to my guns until Colin himself left a long post... It was one of Colin's first posts, it may have even have been his first, it was certainly his longest. Anyway about early January some started the chats. I didnt have chat software, and for about a month, felt very left out... half of the board was made up of messages saying "Hey Im in EFNET now, join me..." and "hey X are you on line, coz Im in chat"... it was very frustrating, so I splashed out on a new computer and joined in. I tried to get into #wliia on my first day on the new computer. I can't remember exactly who was there, but it was such a friendly experience. Donna and Nick have written well about the chatroom... not much to add... except I used to adore the games we played... all the main performers were taken as nicknames, so I had to take a lesser known performer... picked Peter Cook because he looked the oldest, and I already felt a lot older than most of the rest of you guys... still do... This is very personalised. oh well I'll break there... I might post more.... Michelle: Dean, Do you remember your first game in chat ? I seem to recall it involved a trip to the dentist, think it was alphabet :) I wouldn't say that Peter Cook was a lesser known performer ! Lori: LOL, Dean, I remember the days of the "John Sessions sucks" posts, too..in fact, I joined in quite heartily myself:) What I also recall about those early posts was a lot of speculation about Tony's ....shall we say...preferences? ;) There were several separate threads about the issue, and after awhile some folks started getting ticked off about it. Two people in particular, whose names escape me as they are both gone, used to have an ongoing feud which I think stemmed from all the Tony talk. Can anyone clarify or expand on this? Anyway, I came to the board for the first time in November, thanks to Mark's page. I'd only even owned a computer for a couple of months, and approached the message board with an automatic sense of caution and feeling of anonymity. That changed before long, though. I think that talk of a "party" for those of us who lived near one another began as early as January. And with incredible force the idea just grew and grew and people announced they'd be flying to TO to attend! I volunteered to help out the brave hostess ("Christina" in those days:). We met for the first time in early February, I believe, and the "party" was now a "Convention". I remember that as we talked about seeeing a Second City show as part of the Con, we imagined how great it would be if Colin just happened to be performing that night.....imposssible, right?:) Well, since this is getting way too long, I'll post my Convention memories later. Happy Whoser Month to all!:) Michelle: Lori, I remember the big debates too, one of the posters was Crazy Jane (think she posted as E--? ), anyway I met her the first time I met you in Talk City in January :) Forgotten who the other person was. (01-Nov-98 20:34:21) Lori: Oh yeah! Shell, I still remember that night in Talk City, too. I met Nick for the first time then as well. And now that you've refreshed my memory, I think Crazy Jane posted as EPS back then. (02-Nov-98 21:01:59) Dean: Lori, it's funny: I was going to mention the great Tony debate too... but yes the debate about whether or not Tony is gay went on and on for ages... who were the two mainly involved... I can't remember... You mentioning that though reminds me of TF, who trolled here for a while, and funnily enough of Renee, who still sometimes posts here... remember her long posts about her fantasies on what shed like to do to Tony, Colin, Ryan and Niall if she got the chance.... I learnt a lot from Renee about the Internet, she used to be taunted all the time by TF about grammatical mistakes and the like, but she always ignored him, which is the right approach to a flamer. There was always a real honesty and a passion about her posts. Renee, if you read this, I wish you'd post regularly again... how's the chef course going? I miss you. Anyway Ill post more a little later.... that was a great post, Lori. :) Serena: My Whoser Story... (01-Nov-98 20:18:47) I remember coming across this board in January...I was a lurker back then I would scan the board every few days or so. I think my first post was sometime in March after I got back from England and after the convention (which I missed:() If I remember correctly is was about wanting to go to LA for the British tapings that May. LA OR BUST I think I titled it.... My first meeting with fellow Whosers I think was in late March (can't you tell I am SO GOOD with dates?!?) when I met Adria, Lori, Kirk and Dave Cho for the first time. We went to see Colin at Second City. It was the first time I met Colin, Lori and I were standing there waiting for Adria to come out of the bathroom, and out of this door walked Colin. Needless to say this was a tongue tying event for me, seeing him for the first time. Now all these months later, it's old hat for me and I guess alot of us ,because Colin is just the nicest person in the whole world and makes you feel so comfortable and it is a terrific experience each time you talk to him....now it's hug Colin every time you see him!! My next big Whoser memory was going to LA in May, and finally meeting alot of the great people who post on the board. Ah LA was that the best or what? Who can forget our lovely dorm room at the BB's?? The long walk on the freeway in search of food? Calling for a taxi to take us back to the BB's only to be told we don't serve North Hollywood? Meeting Fabian our lovely "It's not me it's my boss" page for the first time. And going to Denny's-the official restaurant- whether we like it or not- of Whosers everywhere And of course the biggest memory for me was meeting Clive and the contestants- say what you want about Whosers- but are we great at stalling or what? Thanks to our great stalling skills "No that's MY prop" [cue fight;)] we met Clive Greg Ryan and Colin that night and the following night Wayne and :::sigh::: Brad. Ah the memories they were enough to live on until.....June....when a load of us made the trek to LA again.... Great memories also from the second voyage to LA meeting more FABULOUS people....memories from the second trip.... meeting my stalker for the very first time;) I sat next to her on the plane can you believe it?!?! Being told my Micheal- sorry MichealANGELO that our singing of WL songs was bothering two people in the back- so we continued to sing! hehe!! Being ignored my Mae our drill sargeant page. And of course the introduction of Fabian on a Stick and Fabian's lovely reaction when told he was on a stick- "Oh f***!" Ah Fabian we love ya!! And of course having the Essence of Clive-to help us with Drew Carey right Sarah? ;) The two trips to LA highlight my year as a Whoser but may I now give you my top ten non-LA whoser memories ::::Drum roll please:::: 10) Getting Theresa hopelessly lost on the way home from Hamilton after Supertown Challenge- poor Theresa some Whoser always manages to get her lost! 9) The most recent trek back from Hamilton after STC from- trying to figure out the drives back to Toronto in that darkened parking lot sidenote to Colin if he is reading this- COLIN WE SWEAR WE WERE FIGURING OUT RIDES BACK HOME NOT LOOKING AT YOU DRIVING OUT!!! Trying to stay awake by singing hoedowns, missing our last subway home- driving by Brooke's 10 times -"Oh look there's the park again!!" :::sigh::: 8) Reminising with you 80's kids [Hello Tash and Lori!] 9) Starting up a new lawn mowing business with my brother Miguel 7) FINALLY making it onto chat- thanks for all the help!! 6) At Second City a few weeks ago when the actor's line was "Dr Mochrie, Dr Colin Mochrie?" and the collective gasp that went up from our table 5) Learning some great self defense tips- I am being stalked ya know ;) 4) Being mentioned in print thru abc.com, newspaper articles, by Colin and Ryan, the Whosers are FAMOUS!! hehe!! 3) CAPTAIN HOT STUDMUFFIN!!! 'nuff said right Ash? 2) The look on Colin's face everytime he sees us! eg lining up to for the Mike Bullard Show-Oh god not them again! LOL!! We love you Colin! 1) Finally talking to you all, all of you are the best and you make watching WL and coming to this board a hell of alot of FUN!!! Here's to another great year with a great convention and more WL treks to LA and England!! *~*~*~*THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!*~*~*~**~ Lisa: My story (a little different than what I've read so far)... (01-Nov-98 21:30:31) I've been a fan since 1992, when I first got Comedy Central. I was hooked immediately, and the show became my after school ritual. None of my friends watched Wliia?, or even Comedy Central, so I was always alone in my love for the show. I went away to college, where I have a bad cable station, so I went through withdrawal. One day, sometime around May of last year, I decided to look up webpages. All of the memories came back to me, and I was an addict once again. I read Susan's page, then Mark's and a few others, and I kept reading about this message board so I started reading. I posted slowly at first, but soon I became a regular. I then learned about chat and had to join in. I, unfortunately, am an insanely busy college student who is always in meetings at night and who has never quite found the time to chat (I've shown up about once a month since I found it). Being a college student I also have neither the time or the money for conventions and tapings. But I still hang around the mb and post when I can. The Whosers are the neatest group of internet fans I have ever met. I have never felt inferior to anyone else because I can't do what everyone else can (I just get reeeeally jealous). The few times I have been in chat people have been very friendly. Most of them even know who I am. I may not be a full-time addict like other people, but I love the show and I love being considered part of this group. I'm proud to be a Whoser! :) TCS: My turn (another long post) (01-Nov-98 22:48:23) Well, I was a Whoser long before I could put a name to it... :) But the sad thing was I didn't have anyone to share my obsession with. I started watching WL in 92, and within a few weeks I was hooked (my initial reaction the show: What the hell is this? :) ). A year later I was off to England for grad school, and there I got to enjoy many WL-related appearances, both on TV and live. My first few days in London I went to the Comedy Store twice, which turned into an addiction in and of itself (and each time I went by myself!). Then there were the WL airings on TV, all the other shows that WL stars were in that were on TV (like S&M), the theater outing to see Tony Slattery (my first "glimpse", lol), and then my first WL taping, which was so incredible, and so perfect (as most of you know by now, it was the one where Tony splits his trousers, my second "glimpse", hehe). While I was in England I got turned onto the Internet, and when I came back to the States, I got hooked on AOL. At that time there was a Comedy Central forum on AOL, and there were quite a few messages about WL. I found one kind person there who was able to give me *uncensored, uncut* tapes of WL, which was a real treat. I think that's also where I found out about Teresa Wry's mailing list, which was my first real connection with diehard WL fans like myself. At about the same time I began corresponding to Tess, keeper of the Masterson Inheritance web site, who kindly copied all her MI tapes for me. Later I would meet her in person, take her on her first trip to the Comedy Store, only to have her surpass me and become mega-Improv fan in Britain, lol. It was through Teresa's mailing list that I learned about both Mark's web page and Alison's messageboard - and I haven't been the same since! I think I started posting to the board around November, and I wanted to chat on irc, but I knew nothing about it, so I didn't take the plunge till February. If I remember correctly (which is hard for me to do, lol), my first night on irc was with VanessaUK and Natalie. I believe that my initiation was something like the person to give Clive a hair transplant (is that right, guys?). I got it, and soon irc became my next addiction, along with checking the messageboard all the time, including at work when I wasn't supposed to. :) From there I went to the convention, where I finally got to meet all these nice people in person, and to the three trips to LA for WL tapings... I never guessed after that first WL taping in England that I would ever go to another one - much less 13 more (at last count... :)) Not a day goes by that I don't chat with Whosers online - you guys truly changed my life! :) BTW, I remember that first messageboard argument between CrazyJane and TF... I was upset at first because I thought that yet another of my online families was going to break apart because of disagreements... but I'm glad I was wrong! Thanks to everyone for keeping me sane for the past year. I love you all! {{{{{{}}}}}} Renee: MY TURN (01-Nov-98 23:12:16) Well i started watching Whose Line in December of 1997, i heard someone in one of my classes talking about it how hilarious that show was. With my recognation(pardon my spelling), i think i was watching it in begining of December (not sure), well i started to watch it while i was getting ready for school - but at first i thought the show wasnt that funny. Until i started to laugh my head off what the contestants doing on the show. Then i started to tape it. Before new years i found Mark's webpage and putting my name in it. Then finding Alison's Messageboard. There i met some of you. While watching the show, i had no idea who these people were - Colin, Ryan, Greg, Clive, etc. Except for Ryan (Drew Carey Show)and i thought Greg was Gay (for the glasses) also finding out that Colin and Ryan were raised in Canada. Then finding addresses for Clive and Tony Slattery. Then writing to Clive and Tony and getting a response from Clive. Now i'm glad that i found a show with a big response around the world from Canada, US, Australlia, New Zealand, England, and Tailand. I hope i meet some of you at the next convention. One i meet one of the people from the board - Denise. Thats all (thats long man to write) Erin or Eirn: I'll go next!!!! (01-Nov-98 23:50:48) Lets see, I think I discovered this board December 1997, right after I watched my first WL!!! My brother kept telling me to watch it, but I was never home during the day, but this one day I was home and turned it on to see what he was talking about. I never even heard of improv before WL. Anyway I discovered it was the funniest thing in the world. For about a month, I had 2 tapes that my brother had so I watched those over and over untill I knew every word. Then Tash, thanks, sent me all the eps. I will never forget the day they came. :) Anyway, I came to the board but didn't post much. Started chatting in January, and didn't stop. I remeber when we thought it was so cool if there were more than 4 people in the chat room, it was like a party. Well I didn't have my own room so I couldn't chat late, somethimes I would take my webtv downstairs in the living room so I chat!!! I even had to get my own phone line cause I was on so much. Anyway I was totally addicted until summer came, sorry, I don't know what happened. I can say that whoever was chatting April 10, 1998 were the first ones to know about the birth of my nephew. I was online when I got the call, well you knew before my brothers and sisters did!!!!!! And then came LA, I was too shy to go with all you guys, so I went by myself with a friend. It was still fun. Then the second time, and then the third time was just great!!!! There would be a fourth time, but these darn airlines won't lower their prices. But anyway, this group is the greatest group around, and I will come to chat sometime. :) :) Jeff: Re: whoser history (02-Nov-98 00:59:55) Well, I found the board on February 17th, my 29th birthday, and within a week I managed to offend someone with a bad-taste post in one of the games... Then about a month later, Alison posted about the Oscars and I offended her and some others by asking what it had to do with Whose Line (I admit I handled that pretty badly)... Then someone posted as "Scary Spice" and I scared her away... Then I offended a few more people during the "Some Dude" controversy (but at least I was eventually vindicated there)... and finally someone didn't like all the Shameless Plugs for my website. In the meantime I asked for ICQ contacts and inadvertently ignored them thru computer illiteracy. Yes, it certainly has been an eventful few months. Imagine all the trouble I'd cause if I could get to chat! (I'm really a nice guy, but you'd never know it!) DFW: Jeff, the "bad taste" post wasn't offensive, it was funny! I'm the one who replied and I was JOKING! Think how badly I felt about intimidating a newbie! (02-Nov-98 12:17:21) Jeff: You're right, I forgot! Sorry, I know EXACTLY how you feel about intimidating newbies. At least you didn't scare anyone off! (02-Nov-98 17:32:50) TCS: We believe you, Jeff... :) The cool thing is you stuck around and became a Whoser (02-Nov-98 18:51:36) Freda: How about me! I was one of the first ten to twently people here! (I think) (02-Nov-98 09:59:36) Kristin: Re: whoser history (02-Nov-98 11:57:38) I found the board approx Dec 97. I had just been surfing along and looked up Wliia? Somehow I linked to the board. (it was one of the first times I'd surfed the net, so I didn't quite know how I did it!) I've been hooked on wliia? since it aired on TCN. I lurked for awhile before I posted, I remember very well the gay debates!! I started chatting not long after, (thank you all, especially Nick for helping me figure out mirc!) but not too often because I was at school. When I got back home I chatted every night! The people here and on IRC are wonderful, and I consider you all to be friends. I don't post or chat too often anymore, but I still hang around when I have the time(don't forget about me!!!) Dean: You'll never be forgotten, Kristin! Good to see you here! :) (02-Nov-98 22:48:25) Kristin: Thanks Dean! :) (03-Nov-98 07:15:42) Mark: A couple of extra Whoser things... (03-Nov-98 10:37:49) I've said most of my memories in that original post but again I've been reminded of a few more things :) The progress of the discussion is something I'd forgotten a few steps in - as I said, Teresa's message board stopped working a little while after I found it. However, I'd forgotten that shortly afterwards, she set up the (first?) WL mailing list. Not exactly a mailing list, rather that everyone would send messages to her containing "Whose Line" or something in the topic and, when she had collected enough, an e-mail would be sent out to everyone on the list containing all those posts. The list wasn't busy, it might have had maybe a digest once a month or maybe less... I'm just checking, I've still got them all here somewhere (maybe I should post some of the old discussion here?) Last message appears to have been 3rd April this year, with the (old address of the) message board first being mentioned on 4th December 97 (as a 'new' board) - a post on 16th February 98 about the MB gives the current address. Man, some of the things there... Comedy Central promised "Something Big" in 1998 for Whose Line and I thought the American version was going to be their doing! The mailing list was briefly switched over to Coollist, but some problems shortly afterwards resulting in messages never turning up meant it moved back to digest form... I notice that it eventually became wliia@makelist.com which is still there (though rarely used). Regarding initiations, I believe I was "Tony Slattery's Adoptive Father". Although questions about something like rolling over and squashing had me at one point thinking I was Mike's wife! Actually, I've got quite a lot of old e-mails stored up so perhaps (once exams are over!) I might be able to figure out a better idea of when some of these 'important historical Whoser events' actually occured :) Dean ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Message thread: Angie: Attention all Veteran Whosers!!! (Or not-so veteran if you know this...) (17-Jun-1999 16:26:12) Nick: Well I was here since Jan of '98, but I think there were a couple of others here before me (like Michelle and Emile) (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 17:07:54) Dean: It depends a bit by what you mean by whosers. This board (or its predecessors) goes back to Oct/Nov 97. Actually if you have a look at Mark's archives page there is some lengthy pieces on the history which were written about Dec 98/Jan 99 so that could be a useful place to look Ang, I think about 15 to 20 people wrote their recollections. Hope that helps, Dean :) (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 17:32:18) Emile: The Whoser History retrospective can be found here: http://members.xoom.com/_XOOM/longmuir/1998/Nov98/f981101b.html. It makes for some fascinating reading :) :) :) (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 17:42:42) DFW: Wow, I sure was long winded with my history... and I never finished it!! (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 23:45:38) Dean: Lots of stuff here! :) (17-Jun-1999 17:47:05) Ta guys, this ROCKS! (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 18:00:33) Angie: Sorry, that was me. (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 18:01:17) Claudia: I've been here almost a year...I think on june 25th it'll be a year!! (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 18:57:00) Molly: Wow, I've been here for about a year now too. I can't believe that time flies. (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 19:22:10) bonpoutine@excite.com: I've been here since last June, what a great place! It's cool to have a place on the huge Internet that still feels like a small community, and to know that there are people who love this show as much as (even more than) I do! (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 22:58:38) Wee Brem: Sorry for not putting my name on that last post... it's just wee Brem (n/t) (17-Jun-1999 22:59:40) I+64 (Claudia): bonpoutine?? How could we not know it were you? =o) (n/t) (18-Jun-1999 00:25:15) Freda: I came here b4 u... that's all I remember. But I came here after Markie :) (n/t) (18-Jun-1999 01:01:05) Rob (in his One Man Show): I remember the original message board. It was 1997. That's all I remember. ;) (n/t) (18-Jun-1999 02:17:13) Matt, in a Swedish accent: Miss me? :) (n/t) (18-Jun-1999 02:39:59) Sam (in a Swedish accent): It's so smelly down here... (n/t) (18-Jun-1999 16:55:00) Jessie (also in a swedish accent): So smelly down dere ... (n/t) (18-Jun-1999 20:46:04) Emile, in Swedish accent: Let me massage you with de rats... (n/t) (18-Jun-1999 22:01:41) Matt, amused at the role play: Absolutely fantastic! :) (n/t) (19-Jun-1999 06:05:52) Monika: February 13, 1999...that day was a milestone in more than one way! :) (n/t) (18-Jun-1999 09:56:35) Back to main board ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Prev Page Next Page Now viewing page 4 of 4 (17-Jun-1999 16:26:12 to 16-Jun-1999 14:08:54) [Image] Message subject: Name: (optional) Email address: (optional) Type your message here: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Back to main board ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright © ITW Newcorp, Inc. 1997-1999 All rights reserved.